Firebug 1.7.0 released in time for Firefox 4.0

The Firebug Working Group developers have declared victory and have released Firebug 1.7.0, the first version of the web debugger fully compatible with Firefox 4. There have been 11 alpha and four beta versions developed in perfecting the new release. Among the new features are a redesign of break notification messages, the ability only to show CSS styles that are applied to an element, an improved open-with-editor feature which can go to a specific line number and a new API for extensions.

One of the most visible changes is that Firebug also has a new "Firebug start button". Firebug was previously invoked from a button in the status bar but because Firefox 4 has eliminated the status bar, it has had to find a new place to live. The new start button can be added to Firefox 4's toolbars instead.

As Firefox 4 sees the addition of storage in the web browser, Firebug has now gained support for examining that storage, be it local, session or global storage in the DOM or console panels. The developers also say the Inspector is now "solid as a rock", and the automated testing framework for Firebug now runs over 150 tests.

Firebug is available to download from the getfirebug.com web site and is released under the new BSD licence. Release notes are also available.

(djwm)